Get in touch with your heart voice
The reason we all have so much trouble hearing that heart voice is because we have to be very quiet and still. We have to be outside our brain's chatter and the roar of the treadmill. You can get there through a variety of routes. Meditation is the most effective and direct way to tap into that heart voice. It does not even have to be any kind of formalized or ritualized meditation practice. It can simply be a time during each day when you just sit quietly and allow your head voice to slowly shut off, and in the remaining silence you will hear the whisper of your heart. It will tell you what is truly important to you alone. It will tell you how you really feel about your life, your work, and where you are going in your future.
And when you hear those messages from deep inside your heart, you will not have any doubt that they are the truth-your truth. You can also get in touch with your heart voice in other ways-sitting alone on the beach, jogging or walking, listening to music, drawing, or writing. It does not matter what you do, as long as it helps you disconnect from your chattering head and the thinking mode, and gets you into a feeling mode.
Setting your destination, developing a plan
Once you know what you really want, you will have a destination-a place you are heading toward. From that destination point, you can see clearly what direction you have to take from where you are now to get there. That direction becomes your path. Now you can develop an action plan made up of a series of goals that will move you along your path. These goals should be a series of small steps that are easily attainable. When you combine these steps together, they will become your plan of action.
To develop a plan of action, take a piece of paper and write at the top of it exactly what you are doing at the time you begin your plan. (For example, if you are working in an agency as a junior graphic designer doing paste-ups and layouts, then you would write that down.) That becomes your starting point. Then at the bottom of the paper, write down what you want to accomplish. (Maybe it would be that you want to leave the agency in several years and start your own freelance design business.) That now becomes your destination. Now go back to your starting point; beneath that, write down a brief description of what you will need in experience and knowledge to reach your destination. (That might be something like this: In order to attain the goal of having my own freelance business, I would need to work at the agency long enough to become an experienced designer and production manager with a thorough understanding of how an agency is run as a business.) After you have established that criteria, ask yourself this question: What action can I take today that will help move me closer to my destination? Remember this should be a small step that is easily accomplished. You do not want to overwhelm yourself anywhere along the way. When you have the answer to that, write it down and label it Action #1. (That might be: I am going to take a course in how to start a small business.) Then visualize yourself having completed that goal or action step. After that, ask yourself this question: Now that I have completed that goal, what is the next logical step that I should take to bring me closer to my destination? When you have that answer, label it Action #2. You will keep going in this manner, asking yourself the same question, and numbering each answer as an action until you arrive at the point where the next step is the destination itself.
Plans can change, so can you
You may find that some of the actions you take along the way will bring you to a plateau stage. When you arrive at a plateau, you will need to evaluate where you are now, and if you still want to continue moving toward your original destination. You may change your mind as you begin working toward your destination. And it is important to allow that to happen. You do not want to get so locked into where you are going that you do not see the other opportunities that may come along.
